Kittel

[hfer07]

A quick observation:

How would Kittel & Gaviria fit within the team? Will Gaviria then be a lead out for him? Is that how Lefevre nurtures young talent?

 

[Flamin]

Gaviria will focus on the track until the Olympics, then in 2017 he can do Giro or Vuelta and plenty of other top level stage races without Kittel. So no problem at all for the next 2 years.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

About 30 GT stage wins ring a bell?

 

[Billie]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

 

[robin440]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

Dubai 2014 stage 4 had a few obstacles in it that were harder than a roundabout!

 

[Akuryo]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

Dubai 2014 stage 4 had a few obstacles in it that were harder than a roundabout!

And Dubai-Tour is of course a race where everybody is in topform and riding as hard as they can. I guess if they would ride stages with the same profile during the Tour he would've been dropped.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

I don't think Etixx will care about that at all. They've got more than enough puncheurs who are fast finishers on lumpy terrain and uphill finish. What they need is someone to consistently win dead flat stages - which usually make up about a quarter of TdF stages. Cavendish wasn't cutting it, and for a team with no GC rider, they really need to be challenging on as many individual stages as possible - especially when they are as big as Etixx.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

I don't think Etixx will care about that at all. They've got more than enough puncheurs who are fast finishers on lumpy terrain and uphill finish. What they need is someone to consistently win dead flat stages - which usually make up about a quarter of TdF stages. Cavendish wasn't cutting it, and for a team with no GC rider, they really need to be challenging on as many individual stages as possible - especially when they are as big as Etixx.

You don't have to make any negative assumptions about either rider to explain the switch, Etixx apparently have a somewhat reduced budget. Kittel had a terrible year and then fell out with his team. Therefore Kittel is available at below his expected value. Cavendish only got one Tour stage, but he also got 14 wins, so while he might well be starting the downward slope of his career, he's not going to take a very large pay cut. Therefore Kittel makes sense, regardless of which rider you'd prefer to have monetary issues aside.

Kittel is a bit of a risk, given that it's not entirely clear what's been wrong with him. But he's young, he's super-fast and is a risk worth taking.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

I don't think Etixx will care about that at all. They've got more than enough puncheurs who are fast finishers on lumpy terrain and uphill finish. What they need is someone to consistently win dead flat stages - which usually make up about a quarter of TdF stages. Cavendish wasn't cutting it, and for a team with no GC rider, they really need to be challenging on as many individual stages as possible - especially when they are as big as Etixx.

You don't have to make any negative assumptions about either rider to explain the switch, Etixx apparently have a somewhat reduced budget. Kittel had a terrible year and then fell out with his team. Therefore Kittel is available at below his expected value. Cavendish only got one Tour stage, but he also got 14 wins, so while he might well be starting the downward slope of his career, he's not going to take a very large pay cut. Therefore Kittel makes sense, regardless of which rider you'd prefer to have monetary issues aside.

Kittel is a bit of a risk, given that it's not entirely clear what's been wrong with him. But he's young, he's super-fast and is a risk worth taking.

too much of a risk IMO. No winning is still ok as improvements can be made but he is not even finishing races. Don't know what the problem is . Could be mononucleosis. Maybe a year or 2 to recover. Andy Schleck had similar problems and he had to retire. Cunego is another.

 

[jmdirt]

He's frustrated! Cav didn't need to pull right after he went past, but if MK would have kept sprinting he would have been fine.

 

[kwikki]

From the helicopter shot it looked as if MK had already lost when MC swerved a bit.

Don't know why he's complaining because MK still had loads of room to his right. MC hadn't put him into the barriers.

 

[SlickMongoose]

Well beaten.

Has he lost that top speed he had two years ago? Or is Cav's form just making him look bad?

It wasn't just that Kittel went earlier, Cav pulled out pretty quickly....... Cav was just a lot faster.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

"Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women."

That's all you can say about him and his team. Crushed it!

 

[jmdirt]

Did I see some road roosting up behind him?! Great for the German fans (even if it finished in Belge)! Now his good TT could payoff tomorrow, but it will be tough.

 

[Breh]

5 and counting...

He seems like a very nice leader to work for. His team is having a great Tour aswell.

 

[yaco]

Wow. The best sprinter has 5 pages in this forum.

 

[deValtos]

Re:

Wow. The best sprinter has 5 pages in this forum.

He's too fast for his own good. There's literally nothing to discuss. :lol:

He doesn't even make contentious/dangerous moves to dispute.

He just wins.

 

[Scarponi]

Will he go Veulta? What does he normally do post tour?

 

[jmdirt]

Re: Re:

Wow. The best sprinter has 5 pages in this forum.

He's too fast for his own good. There's literally nothing to discuss. :lol:

He doesn't even make contentious/dangerous moves to dispute.

He just wins.

This^...He is just flat out fast, what else is there to say? Even though its nearly a foregone conclusion that he will win if he is in the mix at 500 M, its still fun to watch him rip his bike to pieces. I wonder if he gets new bikes more often just to be safe? His team seems to really like the guy. When they congratulate him their smiles are huge and the hugs are real. Who else compares WT/TdF sprints to tetris?!

 

[Brullnux]

There's not much to say about him, that's probably why. Everyone respects and appreciates his very obvious talent for going very fast.

 

[burning]

Well, he either wins by a mile or gets dropped/gassed before the finish, so he is very predictable to watch. I am not sure if he improved his stamina or the race was very easy compared to last few years.

We have seen him running out of steam and not being able to contest sprints in 2nd week, but he seems to have no problem at the moment.

 

[oldcrank]

Re:

Wow. The best sprinter has 5 pages in this forum.

Maybe he needs to post more coffee-drinking pictures on Instagram
and constantly keep the world aware of his current "sensations".

 

[Valv.Piti]

I hope he will win 8 stages for pure comedy. I hope that will make Gouvenou and Prudhomme realise how miserably of a job they've done! To be fair to Kittel tho, he clearly is at some monster shape, he isn't as one dimensional either as some make him out to be.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I hope he will win 8 stages for pure comedy. I hope that will make Gouvenou and Prudhomme realise how miserably of a job they've done! To be fair to Kittel tho, he clearly is at some monster shape, he isn't as one dimensional either as some make him out to be.

I honestly feel that those guys would love little more than to see that happen.

 

[GuyIncognito]

That would be publicity gold, especially in the currently depressed german market.
Prudhomme would orgasm.